An international "Conference on Radioprotectors and Anticarcinogens" is currently in the organizational stage and planned to take place on June 21-24, 1982 at the National Bureau of Standards (Gaithersburg, Maryland location). It will consist of six half-day sessions with 5-6 invited speakers per session, discussion panel and poster session for contributed papers. The conference will be concerned with the free radical-kinetic and mechanistic, biochemical, biological and clinical aspects of chemical agents capable of reducing the biological effects of ionizing radiations, as well as chemical carcinogens. The conference will deal briefly with the induction mechanisms which result in deleterious effects, and mainly with the protection mechanisms in acute (radiation sickness, lethality) and long range effects (mutation and carcinogenesis), with emphasis on sublethal effects. The conference will be unique in that: (1) it represents a first meeting dealing comprehensively with the mechanisms of protection from ionizing radiations as well as the first to considetr the intrinsic relationships between protection from radiation and chemical carcinogens; (2) it will attempt to correlate free radical chemistry with the observed protection phenomena, and in particular, to elucidate the role of endogenous and exogenous sulfur compounds; (3) it will attempt to establish the physiological and nutritional criteria for "intrinsic resistance" towards radiation and chemical insults. In view of accelerated interest in the above fields the conference will be timely and through crossfertilization of the represented disciplines should foster new research approaches in the area, eventually leading to efficient protection of the population at large from ionizing radiations and chemicals. Several agencies have expressed interest in the field, e.g. NIH (radiation therapy of cancer; protection from x rays; chemotherapy); NASA (protection of astronauts); EPA-OSHA (protection from individual and synergistic effects of chemical pollutants and radiation); DOD (protection form nuclear blasts); DOE (protection form chronic exposures in nuclear industries); FEMA (protection of civilians in a nuclear war and a nuclear reactor disaster). The conference has been endorsed by the Radiation Research Society. The proceedings are planned to be published.